Children's Home run by Protea Care Limited in North Northamptonshire

Inspection report for children's home: 2495371 1 Registered provider: Protea Care Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and operated by a private provider. It is registered to care for up to two children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is suitably qualified and has been in post since August 2022.

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Information about this children’s home

Two children were seen and spoken to during this inspection period.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2495371 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/07/2023 Full Good 04/05/2022 Full Good 01/06/2021 Full Good 11/03/2020 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report for children's home: 2495371 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are settled and happy living at the home. They have positive relationships with staff and enjoy various activities. This has supported the children in feeling safe and able to seek affection, reassurance, and advice from staff. Children have trusting relationships with staff, and this is enabling them to share their worries and concerns. Children’s bedrooms reflect their personalities and interests, creating a homely feel for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff value the importance of children attending education. Children attend school and are making some progress in their education. One child has sat their GCSE exams and is progressing to sixth form. Another child is progressing from working mainly in a small group to spending some time in a mainstream class, to support their social skills in a wider group setting.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to develop many areas of their personal independence skills. One child has been supported with visual aids to understand what they need to do when undertaking personal care tasks. This knowledge is helping them develop this as part of their daily routine. Another child is being supported to use public transport. This is helping the child to develop coping strategies for managing uncertainties that come with using public transport, for example, cancellations and delays.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff regularly have reflective discussions with children. Each child has a trusted adult assigned to them as a keyworker. On some occasions the opportunity to explore an issue further is missed. This limits staff identifying further support children may need around specific subjects.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to develop positive emotional and physical health. Children enjoy positive time with family which helps build support networks as they approach independence. Children attend health appointments. As a result, children are starting to recognise their emotions and are developing appropriate ways to respond to different situations.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff use creative ideas that enable children to engage in new experiences. This is beginning to develop children’s confidence in being open to new experiences and opportunities. For one child who gets very anxious about sleeping away from home, the manager used a transitional object to enable the child to go on holiday. Consequently, the child had a positive experience and is slowly developing confidence in visiting and staying overnight at new places. Inspection report for children's home: 2495371 4

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children do not go missing from home. Children see the home as a safe place and look forward to returning home from school, days out or holidays.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Physical restraint is rarely used. When staff intervene to keep children safe, minimal intervention is used and this supports positive relationships between children and staff. Reflective conversations with children help them develop understanding and empathy towards each other.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children have various plans that identify risks and vulnerabilities. They do not always forward plan for children approaching independence. For one child, a dynamic approach has been taken to a changing risk regarding their mobile phone. This allows children to develop whilst learning from their mistakes in a supportive environment.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The manager understands the importance of children feeling listened to. When a child makes a complaint, the manager takes time to discuss it with them. The manager has reflected on the child’s wishes resulting in the child feeling valued and listened to.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff are proactive in seeking appropriate emotional support for children who hurt themselves. Staff have supported children by distracting them and helping them to use identified strategies to manage risks from self-injurious behaviour. However, staff do not consistently record the presenting behaviours that would help them to identify triggers and trends that lead to such events.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The home is led by an experienced manager. The manager is aspirational in her work with the staff and children. She acknowledges the shortfalls in management oversight of the home. A recent system error has not allowed the smooth transition of children’s records. The manager is in the process of reviewing this, however, the system has yet to be fully embedded.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The monitoring systems for the review of children’s records require improvement. The manager has not ensured that children’s records are up to date. She has not always requested minutes of children’s multi-agency meetings from relevant professionals. This has resulted in the manager not having oversight of a significant event for a child on one occasion. The manager is already working to improve this area of practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager is respected by the staff team. Staff value the manager’s work ethic and the support this offers them. Staff receive supervision and feel able to make contributions to the development of the home. The quality of supervision is varied and lacks reflection at times around discussions held about children. This does not offer opportunities to further discuss and review the care children are receiving. Inspection report for children's home: 2495371 5 Children’s records contain inaccurate information. One child’s record contains inaccurate information about their health needs. The manager has not escalated this with the appropriate professionals to ensure the child’s record is correctly updated. The manager’s limited oversight has also resulted in staff not recording the correct diagnosis for one child in their records.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager undertakes reflective learning with the staff during team meetings. This allows the team to reflect on their practice and improve how they work with children. In addition, the manager ensures that staff undertake continued professional development so they can provide safe care to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager has not developed effective systems that drive children’s plans. Children’s plans do not consistently have management oversight. Areas of need identified by children are not reflected in plans which are discussed during multi-agency meetings. The scrutiny around the effectiveness of the work is not discussed among the children’s wider professionals’ network. This does not allow support to be considered more broadly when children’s needs are considered in isolation by the children’s home. Inspection report for children's home: 2495371 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, The Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically refers to the manager using their review systems to evaluate patterns and trends in order to drive improved outcomes.

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Requirement Due date

Also, to the manager ensuring that staff supervision and work completed with the children are reflective and that language used in records is meaningful and helpful to children.

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Requirement Due date

This also refers to the manager ensuring that monitoring systems implemented are functional, with contingencies in place to ensure information is readily available. 29 November 2024

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry.

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Requirement Due date

Case records must be kept— 29 November 2024 Inspection report for children's home: 2495371 7 securely in the children’s home during the period when the child to whom the case records related is accommodated there. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This refers to the manager ensuring that details of children’s multi-agency meetings are updated on children’s records and written in a meaningful way that supports children.

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Requirement Due date

This also refers to staff accurately recording children’s health needs and that the manager advocates and escalates issues to ensure that multi-agency records contain accurate information for the children.

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Requirement Due date

Also, to the manager ensuring that systems allow for children’s records to be safely stored.

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Requirement Due date

Also, to the manager ensuring that children’s risk assessments are reviewed and updated and there is forward planning for how risk should be managed for children.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, using the social care common inspection framework. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with The Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. Inspection report for children's home: 2495371 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Protea Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 317 Horn Lane, London W3 0BU

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Inspector

Netsai Muzuva, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2495371 9 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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